MapBrief™

Geography · Economics · Visualization

Category: Business

The Flawed Economics of Closed Government Data

  How much should citizens pay a county for a digital copy of property records and aerial photos?  Sciotto County, Ohio says $2000.  Actually it hired Woolpert to figure it out for them, and they said $2000.  Which sounds a bit spendy, especially given that cities like Philadelphia and Denver give away the same type […]

The Tired Debate About Open-Source-in-the-Enterprise Dies an Overdue Death

The obituary appeared in the Wall Street Journal this week (ungated link). And the lead sentence is all you need to read: The use of open-source software is becoming more prevalent at big companies for reasons including ease of innovation and cutting the time to get products to market.   Done. No mention of “free” […]

Software Can’t Transform Organizations That See Data Merely as a Thing to Be “Managed”

All words are prejudices. -Nietzsche The first problem with Data Management is that it’s called “Data Management.” In the NFL there is a certain type of quarterback about which the best that can be said is that they are “game managers“. Their talent lies not in a strong arm or pinpoint accuracy but in not […]